


Sustenance

by deathwailart



Series: Ithildin [4]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Cooking, Cooking Lessons, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 16:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1353709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathwailart/pseuds/deathwailart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Months after the battle, Kili finds out something surprising about Tauriel and a challenge (or an incentive, it's her choice in his opinion) is set for the summer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sustenance

When he finds out, he stares at her for a long moment and turns away quickly to attend to the fire. His shoulders are shaking and she is no fool, she knows that he's laughing or doing his very best not to now that she's intimately familiar with him. He and his brother are still always laughing together and it's even funnier when they're dressed as princes should be, watching old dwarves and elves trying to eat together at the same table at receptions.  
  
"Is there a reason for your laughter?" She asks finally as she takes a seat on the log he's sitting on as he starts skinning the hares they caught not so long ago.  
  
"No," he manages but he can't meet her eyes, all his attention on the hare and his knife. "Why would I laugh?"  
  
"Answer my question first."  
  
" _Fine._ You're an elf, you're a captain of the guard and you're far older than I am but you can't cook!" A nearby magpie squawks and flaps off when his voice rises into a shout at the end, eyes wide as he stops working to look up at her. "Mum taught me and Fíli how to cook when we were little, probably to keep us busy when she couldn't keep an eye on us, rolling pastry or soaking things, mashing up this and that. Thorin too. Not saying that all of us are good but you can't cook! It's—" he waves his hands in the air then gets back to work as she raises one brow at him. "It's just _weird_. How haven't you starved? And I know that elves eat meat, maybe not as much as us but I know that you do." She has to laugh at that because it was one of the stories she and Legolas both laughed over when they shared meals in the tents of the company after what they now call the battle of the five armies, the horror of Rivendell hospitality, bowls of salad and flutes and harps throughout the entire meal.  
  
"I know the bounty of the forest as you should well know for I have been teaching such skills to you – it amazes me you lasted so long not knowing each and every berry."

"You can't make a meal of berries. You need meat. Deer or rabbit or hare, a bird of some sort, fish. Can't march on berries."  
  
"When your rations are lembas then berries are welcome. There are fruits to be found—"  
  
"In Mirkwood?"  
  
She can't blame him for being dubious as her home is still so sick it grieves her heart but she nods. "When you know what to find then yes, there is fruit to be eaten and many roots that will fill your belly."  
  
"But there's meat too."  
  
"From the kitchens."  
  
"So that's how you do it? Take plenty in your pack if you're not going to make it back to the kitchens for a meal?"  
  
Somehow she feels like an elfling again when she nods, waiting for him to be done with the hares because it's been a long day of teaching him the paths of Mirkwood, telling him stories from her childhood and how she came to be captain of the guard along the way before they ended up hunting. It's strange to try to picture him as a child – she's seen very few dwarven children after all – but she just about manages, him and Fíli on tiptoe, tongues sticking out (or Kíli's at least, half the time she catches him doing it she can't resist grabbing and pinching because he'll always squawk at her and flail around like a fool) with flour in their hair. She knows much more about their lives now and how they had lessons on how to behave like princes and to learn their history and customs to keep them alive and to be a sign that not all was lost along with Erebor but sometimes it's still hard to imagine how they were raised as normal folk. Two little boys learning to cook next to their mother and uncle in aprons with sleeves rolled up but it warms her heart as she watches him now, fashioning a spit from sticks and twine. Hands she thought of as too small and square and clumsy when first they met she knows to be as clever as hers; hands that handle bows and swords and daggers, that can fashion snares and shape metal and cook meals and much more than that.  
  
"Does it bother you?" She asks finally once Kíli seems satisfied that everything is ready and he glances up from where he's kneeling by the fire.  
  
"What? No why would it bother me? I just thought it was odd. Everyone I knew growing up knew how to cook. Not well – wouldn't believe some of the food I've eaten, especially off guarding caravans – but I s'pose we didn't have a choice. Everyone had to learn. Mum said her and Thorin made themselves and each other sick more often than not at first but mum's food was always the best." He smiles brightly, the sort of innocence only the young can get away with when she knows how hard it must have been for his family to go from great feasts to struggling to get by on the road. No matter how much her home has changed over the years, she has wanted for nothing – a meal has always been a surety for her. "C'mere," he beckons her to come kneel by him and nods at one of the spits. "Turn it slowly. You want to make sure it cooks evenly inside and out but you don't want it to be too dry."  
  
"So this is a lesson then?" She follows his direction though, her brows drawing together in concentration as she makes sure to move at the same speed as him, unwilling to risk ruining half their dinner.  
  
"Never too old to learn."  
  
"One day your cheek will land you in trouble."  
  
"Mum's been saying that since I was five and here I am."  
  
She laughs, leaning over to kiss him, her free hand cupping his chin to run through the short beard he's been growing since work began in earnest to rebuild Erebor. Sometimes she can't believe he's alive and with her, that he's come so close to death twice only to make his way back with a cheeky grin and a laugh, hale and hearty.  
  
"Keep turning the spit," he murmurs when they break apart and she gives him a playful shove. "Actually...it's a shame we don't have a pot, didn't you say there were duck potatoes around here?"  
  
"Duck po- you mean arrowheads?"  
  
"Whatever the things were at the spot you said was good for catching crab at the right time of year."  
  
"Then yes, we gather edible tubers there. Why?"  
  
"Could've shown off how good you are at boiling them up, made a nice little meal."  
  
"I have berries."  
  
Kíli grins and moves quickly to take charge of her spit. "Right then, think you've got enough to coat these decently?"  
  
"It won't take long for me to gather more, shall I do that?"  
  
"Yes, we'll have a proper meal."  
  
"Without tubers."  
  
"Well there's always next time. I'll teach you."  
  
"However shall I repay you?" She asks teasingly, trying to ignore her stomach growling; the hares smell delicious and the thought of slathering them in the autumn berries close only makes it work.  
  
"One day you can cook me a meal and I'll lie back on a log in the summer sun."  
  
"Summer?" She asks, dropping a kiss on his head as she moves to grab a pouch and bowl from her pack to fill with berries. "Summer is fast approaching."  
  
"It's an incentive," he replies, perhaps trying to sound wise before he shrugs. "Or a challenge. Whatever sounds more appealing."  
  
"I cannot say no to a challenge – shall we name the terms after we eat?"  
  
He takes a moment to consider before nodding, smiling so fondly at her it makes her heart ache. "Aye, I like the sound of that."  
  
They don't quite iron out the terms by the time she returns and they eat, sucking berry juice from their fingers but they have time to decide and plenty of lessons between now and summer and really, there's no loser in this challenge if it means she can steal him away to the forests in the summer to have him spread out beneath her, looking up at her with love and adoration in his eyes.  
  
Still, elves have their pride too and she's been meaning to spend more time with his mother to get to know her better as it is. After all, he never said anything about all the lessons having to with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: One cooking for the other


End file.
